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Frank Kozik (US Version)

Frank Kozik is often credited as the one who inspired the resurgence of rock poster art in America today. Frank was born in Eurpoe, and his parents were estranged when Frank was still very young. After moving to the United States, Frank found himself in Austin, Texas in the 1980s, right in the midst of a blossoming underground music scene. With the help of artist and silkscreener Lindsey Kuhn, Frank starting doing huge, colorful, silkscreened posters at a time when America was seeing mostly black and white flyers on the telephone poles. Frank’s satirical posters and independent, entreprenurial spirit quickly spread his work all over the country, inspiring a whole generation of rock poster artists to start doing silk screening.

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Silence....street noises...

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

My name is Frank Kozik, I am originally from Spain, been living in the US since 1976, I designed posters and record sleeves for along time and have been designing urban vinyl toys for the last 10 years.

When did you start drawing?

1967....I was 5Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

Entirely self taught

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

I have been living from my art for 24 years

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

A lot back in the 80's and 90's...not so much these days.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

Everything.

What are the principal steps in your work (from start to finish) ?

Pencil roughs, final inks, or paint. or computer....

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

It is a mixture

How long does it take you to do a poster?

It could be a day, it could be a year.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

Depends on the money, and my technical limitations.

For which band have you already worked for?

Thousands of them.....

For which band would you love to work?

I really havent had much interest in music related work for about 10 years, so ..no one really. maybe Die Antwoord....they are funny.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

I did sometimes.

Can you tell us which is the greatest band to work with for posters and.... the worst ? :)

The best was the Butthole Surfers and Sonic Youth. There where not any real problems with any bands.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

Having the text integrate with the design.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

Well, back in the 80's and 90's definately,that old music and poster scene....the last 10 years, yes, very much part of the toy scene.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

Google 'frank kozik'

The best praise you received lately?

Very large royalty checks.

What are you working on at the moment and what s next ?

Many toy releases, some guitar designs for Fender, a poster for Cirque du Soleil, some designs for japanese products....

What can we wish you for the future?

Kindness form the aliens when they invade from space

Last question (or joke :) ) Do you know anything about french rock posters scene ?

There is a woman called Tanxxx that does very interesting posters in France.

How would you explain that rock posters have spread so heavily over america s culture, it is quite difficult to understand for us in france where this art is nearly unknown.

They are interesting to make and to look at. France had a great poster scene....back in the 1890's..it's no different.